Bear One Anothers Burden

Last Edit:August 16, 2011 - 6 years 2 months ago

To undertake this mission, you'll have to head over to an all-new location that opens up to you directly before you're able to undertake this mission. The modern (at least by 1910 standards) town in question is called Blackwater, and it's in the Great Plains region, which is at the far northeastern reach of your map. You won't be able to access this area until late in the game, so don't bother heading over before Agent Edgar Ross' name flashes there, letting you know to visit. When you arrive, you'll find a man counting something at a counter. He eventually tells you to go upstairs to find Agent Edgar Ross, Marston's middleman between lawlessness and the government. When Marston arrives, he's very disappointed, and quite angered. He seems to have fulfilled his side of the deal with the feds, but they still won't let him off the hook. What's their deal?

Well, their deal is simple. They got Escuela, and they got Williamson, but there's still one more man they want, and he goes by the name of Dutch. You've no doubt heard that name throughout the game. Now, it's time to act on his recent whereabouts. The feds are apparently looking after Marston's son and wife, and they promise to continue to do so as long as Marston proceeds to cooperate. Unfortunately, he won't have much of a choice but to comply with their wishes. When all is settled, the two agents and Marston resolve to head to Serendipity. And that's when they get into a new-fangled automobile, which is a whole lot easier to ride in than a horse and carriage. Oh, and you'll have a little rendezvous with Nigel Dickens here, too. Nice!

You'll find yourself in the agents' car automatically, and an on-screen prompt will appear thereafter, letting you know that you can skip far ahead if you so desire. You can skip the entire voyage to the Serendipity, where a battle with some outlaws will take place. But as usual, we implore you not to skip ahead. Doing so will force you to miss a rather telling (and humorous) conversation between the three men. You'll learn a bit more about all parties involved, so pay close attention. Eventually, you'll arrive at the boat named Serendipity, where a fray is about to go down. Agent Ross will stay behind with the automobile, while his lackey proceeds ahead with you towards the car.

You'll finally gain control of Marston when the car arrives at its destination. Your task is to infiltrate the Serendipity, which is an anchored, out-of-commission steamboat docked on a nearby shore. Follow the lackey agent down towards the steamboat, where you'll no doubt notice that everything is strangely quiet. Almost a little too quiet, if you ask us. Board the steamboat, and you'll find nothing of note on the first two floors (although there are a bunch of beds that are well-made; a little weird, if you ask us). But when you finally get to the very top of the steamboat (via a couple of staircases on the far side of the vessel), you'll find the feds' informant, who is tied to a chair with a burlap sack over his head.

Naturally, the informant having a burlap sack over his head isn't a good sign. Not at all. As a cutscene ensues, you'll see Marston cut the man free, while the agent grills him for information. It doesn't take an incredibly long time for the important information to come out. The informant openly admits that this was a trap, and that the trio is now in deep danger. As Marston hoists the injured man over his shoulder so that he can be carried back to the car, your enemies finally unleash their ambush, letting themselves be seen with bullets hurtling all around you.

Your first task is to get off of the boat. The agent accompanying you will help you take care of some of your enemies, but you're going to have to rely on yourself for the most part, in terms of protecting yourself from the myriad enemies that come out of the woodwork here. Because of the fact that you're forced to carry the injured informant over your shoulder, your choice of weaponry will be limited here, as will the speed in which you can make your escape. It's a good thing, then, that you received a powerful new pistol during the course of the events of this mission, which will make quick work of any enemies you encounter en route back to the automobile, even from a moderate distance away.

The easy part of this fray is fighting your way off of the steamboat. Enemies will immediately storm your position from where the informant was found. Once you fend them off, you can head back down the ship to the bottom floor in the same fashion that you worked your way up there in the first place. Expect mild resistance on the ship itself, especially coming out of dark corners and rooms. As always, your HUD is an extremely valuable tool here, since it will show you exactly where your foes are coming from. When you make your way back to the docks, multiple waves of enemy reinforcements will show up in an attempt to stymie your advance. Blaze through them, but do so from afar. Your new weapon will be a huge asset here, as mentioned earlier. Don't rush forward down the docks towards the car, as wantonly advancing can put you in the crosshairs of advancing reinforcements.

When you finally arrive at the car (after climbing the dirt road/hill back to the automobile), you'll be able to drop the injured man into the car and ride off back towards Blackwater. The ride will appear to go smoothly at first, but you're probably racked with the seemingly-inescapable notion that if the game was going to wrap this mission up from here, the cutscene wouldn't be in-game. If you were feeling that way, then your feeling was completely right. As the car careens down the road, smoke will eventually billow from out of the engine block. The car is screwed – at least temporarily – and making matters worse, your position will presently be assaulted by even more angry enemies.

These enemies have presumably been tailing you from the anchored steamboat, and since you're riding in a car circa 1910, they are a lot faster on horseback than you are in a car (as Marston repeatedly states, he'd rather have a horse than a car any day, and this is why). Some foes will storm your position on foot, but expect most of them to be on horseback, which is as obnoxious as it sounds. You have very little cover to use here, so you'll need to act quickly and efficiently. Use a powerful rifle to snipe at foes from afar, and then take care of any stragglers in closer quarters if necessary. If you're taking a lot of damage, take cover behind your own vehicle, and of course, use your HUD to identify the locations of any stray enemies.

With that final ambush quelled, your car will eventually be repaired enough that you can head back to Blackwater in one piece. And now, finally, this mission will conclude. As the car rides into Blackwater, you'll eventually be dropped off back at the agents' office. The injured man will be whisked away by a local doctor so that he can be tended to, and the agents cut you loose for the time being. But as if it should come as any surprise to you, they have a lot more work for you to undertake. After all, Dutch is still somewhere out in the wild west, and they won't relinquish you from your duties until he's caught.